PERFORMANCE OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS FOR 2012

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1 From the Ombudsman Dame Julie Mellor DBE Mr Martin Donnelly CMG Permanent Secretary Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Victoria Street London SWH 0ET 4 March 203 Dear Martin, PERFORMANCE OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS FOR 202 I am writing to all Permanent Secretaries to provide you with an annual statement about complaints PHSO received about your Department in the calendar year 202. I hope that you find this information useful when reviewing the performance of the Department and its agencies. PHSO will be sending a copy of these letters to the Chair of the relevant Select Committee to help inform Parliament s scrutiny work and we will be putting these letters in the public domain in April Role of Departmental Boards Our role as the last resort for complaints about public services means that we have unique information about the public s experience. Complainants often tell us that their motivation for complaining is to ensure that the same mistakes do not happen again. It is therefore concerning that our research has shown that 64% of those who complain do not expect anything to change as a result. Complaints are a valuable source of free information about the public s experience of the services you provide. The best performing organisations use this feedback to draw insight into areas where that service could be improved. When mistakes are made, which inevitably they will be, it is how they are dealt with that determines whether the public s confidence in those services is restored. We recommend that departments and agencies consider, at Board level, questions regarding numerical trends, the issues complained about and acted upon and the customer experience of complaining.

2 Number of complaints o Are there any trends in the number of complaints you have received this year or in comparison to previous years? o What do you think are the reasons for these trends and what action do you need to take? Learning from complaints o Are there any trends in the subject of complaints you have received? o What do you think are the reasons for these trends? What have you learnt from complaints, customer feedback and feedback from Parliament s Ombudsman? o What have you improved about your services and administration as a result? o What further action do you need to take to address any outstanding issues identified by complaints? Experience of complaining o What are your service standards for complaint handling? What is your performance against those standards? o What are your customers and Parliament s Ombudsman telling you about public experiences of making a complaint? o When did you last audit your complaint handling and what were the findings and recommendations? For example, which parts of the Cross Government Complaints Forum standards do you meet? o What action has been taken or needs to be taken as a result? 2. Key issues from our casework Statistical trends The number of complaints we received about the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills remained relatively stable in 202 with a fall of %. We investigated 8 complaints in 202, including a cluster of 6 relating to the Icelandic Trawlermen compensation scheme 2009, compared to 5 investigations in 20, all of which were upheld. Casework issues learning from complaints and the experience of complaining We worked very closely with the Department on our Trawlermen investigation, which combined complaints about the way the Department measured and calculated the service of Icelandic water trawlermen for the purposes of compensation under the Icelandic Trawlermen compensation scheme We partly upheld these complaints, finding that the trawlermen and their representatives failed to understand what the scheme was actually going to deliver due to the Department failing to clearly articulate the scheme proposals during the initial consultation.

3 Working with PHSO Staff responded quickly, providing swift resolution to our queries, within the timescales we set during our work on the Trawlermen investigations. The Department accepted our findings and recommendations and complied within the agreed timescales. All of our recommendations on our other investigations were also accepted, although in one case we were challenged by the Skills Funding Agency before they eventually agreed. 3. Statistics I have attached in an annex some statistical information about the Department and its agencies for 202. We hope that you find these comments useful. We would be very happy of course to elaborate on the issues we have raised if you found this helpful. Yours sincerely, Dame Julie Mellor, DBE Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

4 Annex: Statistical information about complaints received by the Ombudsman about the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 202 Complaints received Complaints resolved through intervention Complaints accepted for investigation Investigated complaints reported on Uphold rate % Annex: Statistical information about complaints received by the Ombudsman about the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 202

5 6 Themes of investigations The investigations we reported on concerned the following issues about complaints handling Communication with complainant unhelpful, ineffective, disrespectful (one investigation report can contain several themes): Poor explanation 6 Focus on process not outcomes Failure to act in accordance with law and relevant guidance Poor Focus information on process about not outcomes the complaints process Inadequate Failure to act apology in accordance with law and relevant guidance Inadequate Communication financial with remedy complainant unhelpful, ineffective, disrespectful Poor explanation Poor information about the complaints process Inadequate apology Inadequate financial remedy Investigation resolutions In 202 we made 2 recommendations for remedy to the Department for Business, Innovation Total: 4and Skills, together with 4 recommendations to the Insolvency Service and 3 to the Skills Funding Agency (9 in total). A breakdown of the remedies by type is set out below. The total value of the financial remedies provided in 202 was, Apology Compensation payment: non financial loss Compensation payment: financial loss Systemic remedy - changes to policy and procedure Apology Compensation payment: non financial loss Compensation payment: financial loss Systemic remedy - changes to policy and procedure Total: 4 2 Annex: Statistical information about complaints received by the Ombudsman about the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 202

6 Compliance The Department and organisations accountable to it complied with 9 recommendations for remedy during 202. Of these, 8 (95%) were complied with by the target date for compliance agreed between PHSO and the organisation concerned. A breakdown of the performance against target date for each organisation is detailed in the following table: Recommendations Total Agency In target Not in target Total In target % in target Department for Business, Innovation and Skills % Insolvency Service % Skills Funding Agency % Total % Annex: Statistical information about complaints received by the Ombudsman about the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 202 3

7 If you would like this research summary in a different format, such as Daisy or large print, please contact us. Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Telephone: Textphone: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk Millbank Tower Millbank London SWP 4QP Follow us on: 4 Annex: Statistical information about complaints received by the Ombudsman about the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 202